Formulating lane level routing plans

• US 10,431,095 B2
• Filed: 06/07/2017
• Issued: 10/01/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 09/22/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Inventors: Jain, Jinesh J, Levine, Daniel
• Primary Examiner(s): To, Tuan C
• Application Number:
  US15/616,773
• Publication Number:
  US 20170270800A1
• Time in Patent Office: 846 Days
• Field of Search: 701 25
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2050/143 Alarm means
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2050/146 Display means
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2554/00 Input parameters relating to objects
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2556/45 External transmission of data to or from the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2556/50 of positioning data, e.g. GPS [Global Positioning System] data
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2556/55 using telemetry
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 30/00 Purposes of road vehicle drive control systems not related to the control of a particular sub-unit, e.g. of systems using conjoint control of vehicle sub-units
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 30/10 Path keeping cruise control for automatically following a preceding vehicle B60W30/165
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 50/16 Tactile feedback to the driver, e.g. vibration or force feedback to the driver on the steering wheel or the accelerator pedal
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3658 Lane guidance
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0212 with means for defining a desired trajectory involving a plurality of land vehicles G05D1/0287
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096827 where the route is computed onboard
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096844 where the complete route is dynamically recomputed based on new data
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096861 where the immediate route instructions are output to the driver, e.g. arrow signs for next turn
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/167 Driving aids for lane monitoring, lane changing, e.g. blind spot detection

Abstract

The present invention extends to methods, systems, and computer program products for formulating lane level routing plans. In general, aspects of the invention are used in motorized vehicles to guide a driver to a terminal vehicle configuration according to a lane level routing plan that balances travel time with routing plan robustness. A lane level routing plan can be based on terminal guidance conditions (e.g., exiting a highway in the correct off ramp lane), statistical patterns of lanes themselves, current vehicle state, and state of the local environment near the vehicle. Lane level routing plans can be communicated to the driver with audio, visual, and/or haptic cues. Lane level routing plans can be revised online and in (essentially) real-time in response to changing conditions in the local environment (e.g., a trailing vehicle in a neighboring lane has decided to increase speed).

Claims

1. A system, the system comprising:

one or more processors;

system memory, the system memory storing instructions that are executable by the one or more processors; and

the one or more processors executing the instructions stored in the system memory to;

access lane level statistics defining statistics per lane of one or more roads;

formulate a lane level routing plan from the lane level statistics, the lane level routing plan defining a route from a current configuration of a vehicle to an end configuration of the vehicle over the one or more roads, the one or more roads including a multi-lane road, the lane level routing plan including predicted lane changes during travel between the current configuration and the end configuration;

detect that the vehicle is in a configuration associated with a predicted lane change; and

indicate the predicted lane change to the driver.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors executing the instructions stored in the system memory to access lane level statistics comprises the one or more processors executing the instructions stored in the system memory to:

send a plan request, including a local environment state of the vehicle and the end configuration, to a statistics module; and

receive the lane level statistics from statistics module.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors executing the instructions stored in the system memory to formulate a lane level routing plan from the lane level statistics comprises the one or more processors executing the instructions stored in the system memory to formulate a lane level routing plan from the lane level statistics for the one or more roads including the multi-lane road.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors executing the instructions stored in the system memory to formulate a lane level routing plan from the lane level statistics comprises the one or more processors executing the instructions stored in the system memory to formulate a lane level routing plan including lane changes predicted to increase the efficiency of travel between the current configuration and the end configuration.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors executing the instructions stored in the system memory to formulate a lane level routing plan comprises the one or more processors executing the instructions stored in the system memory to formulate a schedule of a plurality of predicted lane changes.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors executing the instructions stored in the system memory to indicate the predicted lane change to the driver comprises the one or more processors executing the instructions stored in the system memory to present a cue to alert an occupant of the vehicle.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the one or more processors executing the instructions stored in the system memory to present a cue to alert an occupant of the vehicle comprises the one or more processors executing the instructions stored in the system memory to present one or more of:

an audio cue, a video cue, and a haptic cue.

8. The system of claim 1, further comprising the one or more processors executing the instructions stored in the system memory to receive at least of:

telemetry data and sensor data indicative of the current configuration.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors executing the instructions stored in the system memory to indicate the predicted lane change to the driver comprises the one or more processors executing the instructions stored in the system memory to indicate a lane change between lanes of the multi-lane road having travel in the same direction.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors executing the instructions stored in the system memory to formulate a lane level routing plan from the lane level statistics comprises the one or more processors executing the instructions stored in the system memory to formulate a lane level routing by considering a preference for one or more of:

reduced travel time, reduced fuel consumption, safety, less traffic, or better visibility.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors executing the instructions stored in the system memory to detect that the vehicle is in a configuration associated with a predicted lane change comprises the one or more processors executing the instructions stored in the system memory to detect that the vehicle is in a configuration associated with a predicted lane change from telemetry data and sensor data.

12. A system, the system comprising:

one or more processors;

system memory, the system memory storing instructions that are executable by the one or more processors; and

the one or more processors executing the instructions stored in the system memory to;

send a plan request, including a current configuration of the vehicle and an end vehicle configuration for a motor vehicle, to a statistics module, the statistics module communicatively linked to lane level data for roads having multiple lanes in the same direction of travel, the current configuration and the end configuration separated by a distance;

receive lane level statistics from the statistics module for a plurality of roads;

identify one or more roads, from among the plurality roads, to be traversed when traveling from the current vehicle configuration to the end vehicle configuration;

formulate the lane level routing plan based on the lane level statistics, the lane level routing plan for a route traversing from the current configuration to the end configuration over the one or more roads, the lane level routing plan predicting lane changes on at least one road having multiple lanes in the same direction of travel; and

present the lane level routing plan.

13. The system of claim 12, further comprising the one or more processors executing the instructions stored in the system memory to determine the current configuration of the motor vehicle based on telemetry data and sensor data collected at the motor vehicle.

14. The system of claim 13, further comprising the one or more processors executing the instructions stored in the system memory to collect the telemetry data, the telemetry data including one or more of:

a location of the motor vehicle, a speed of the motor vehicle, of an acceleration of the motor vehicle.

15. The system of claim 13, further comprising the one or more processors executing the instructions stored in the system memory to collect the sensor data, the sensor data sensed by one or more of:

cameras, radar, or LIDAR.

16. The system of claim 12, further comprising the one or more processors executing the instructions stored in the system memory to receive an indication of the end configuration through a user interface at the motor vehicle.

17. A method for use at a vehicle, the method for indicating that the vehicle is to change lanes, the method comprising:

accessing per lane statistics defining statistics for one or more roads including a multi-lane road;

formulating a lane level routing plan from the per lane statistics, the lane level routing plan defining a route from a current configuration of the vehicle to an end configuration of the vehicle over the one or more roads, the lane level routing plan including predicted lane changes during travel between the current configuration and the end configuration;

detecting that the vehicle is in a configuration associated with a predicted lane change; and

indicating the predicted lane change on an output device at the vehicle.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein formulating a lane level routing plan from the per lane statistics comprises formulating a lane level routing plan including lane changes predicted to increase the efficiency of travel between the current configuration and the end configuration.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein formulating a lane level routing plan from the per lane statistics comprises formulating a lane level routing by considering a preference for one or more of:

reduced travel time, reduced fuel consumption, safety, less traffic, or better visibility.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein indicating the predicted lane change on an output device at the vehicle comprises rendering a visual cue on a user interface at the vehicle.